The comparison of languages can be an effective instructional technique if used well. The comparison of isolated elements is less effective than the examination of languages at several levels: system, norm, and usage. (MSE)

Explores the semantics and pragmatics of indefinite descriptions. It is argued that indefinite descriptions are not semantically ambiguous and that their various interpretations may be explained on the basis of general communicative principles. He shows that his proposed analysis can account for generic and predicative interpretations. (45…

Academic writing in the fields of counseling psychology, biology, and history was examined from a linguistic perspective. Differences were found in cohesive density and in comparisons of the use of lexical ties and also in the numbers of marked and unmarked clauses and the types of marking used. (35 references) (Author/LB)

A longitudinal analysis of the spontaneous speech (first-person pronouns and reflexives) of three children tests the claim that children's poor performance in binding and coreference is due to performance factors. Children appear to understand the principles of binding and coreference at the earliest stages of language development. (33 references)…

Addressed three issues in a description of techniques used to study how people learn structured sequences. These are the content of what is learned, the role of conscious awareness in syntactic learning, and the role of limited-capacity processing or focal attention in syntactic learning. (Contains 86 references.) (Author)

Offers a structural analysis of the children's picture book "Burglar Bill" by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. (SR)

Personal event and fictional narratives are compared across 36 normal children in 2 language-ability (one high, one low) groups using episodic analysis. Findings suggest that narrative structures for personal event narratives and fictional stories may follow different developmental paths, and that differences in productive language abilities…

Effects of case inflections, gender agreement, noun animacy, and word position on decisions and reaction times were explored for agent-object assignments in Croatian, a case-marking language. Results support the view that there may be constraints on the particular combinations of cues that may converge to facilitate, or compete to inhibit,…

Maintains that the study of signs is divided between those scholars who use the Saussurian binary sign (semiology) and those who prefer the Peirce tripartite sign (semiotics). Concludes that neither the Saussurian nor Peircian analysis methods can produce a semiotic interpretation based on a hierarchy of the text's various components. (CFR)

Ways in which studies in second-language acquisition research can illuminate first-language acquisition research are explored. Emphasis is on issues of learner strategies, individual variation, acquisition of late learned structures, bilingualism, Universal Grammar, and the fate of obsolete knowledge in acquisition. (64 references) (Author/LB)

Two experiments are reported on the array-scanning characteristics of Malaysian subjects exposed to arrays of Roman and Arabic letters. Unique search patterns were found with both letters. Ways are discussed in which these patterns may be related to the underlying linguistic structure of words in Bahasa Malaysia, English, and Arabic. (13…

In a study of adult speakers of Spanish learning English, English and Spanish stress assignment is examined. Results are discussed in terms of the proper domain for extrametricality and the transfer of first-language extrametricality markings. (17 references) (Author/LB)

This study represents a first step in helping students of English learn the use and pronunciation of the letter "s." Beginning with a large corpus of contemporary "s" words and the distribution of /s/ allophones in Old English, the research uncovers the complete rule set in Modern English. (17 references) (Author/LB)

Presents an ideological model of literacy for teaching grammar. Discusses its connection to guidelines for teacher preparation and language-arts standards. Discusses strategies in language classes to help teachers see language and grammar, along with language and grammar pedagogy, in broader terms. Concludes that English-teaching majors must…

Presents new evidence for the view that specific language impairment (SLI) involves a syntactic-feature deficit within non-evident grammar. The data involve morphological case and its interaction with verbal inflection. (Author/VWL)